After All These Years
by Miss Phyllis Baxter
Summary: Cora thinks for a moment about her life before and since Robert before Robert, and a telegram, move her thoughts.


**III. Cobert (After All These Years)**

**Author's Note: This and 3 other one-shots were originally written up in May for the birthday of my dear friend, Chelsie Tea (prior-incantatem on tumblr) and I've decided to publish them here now, because I can do what I want. I hope you enjoy it. **

Cora sat on a reasonably comfortable arm chair by her husbands desk in the library, _Pride and Prejudice _resting on her lap.It was her favourite book and she read it so often that she was sure she could recite whole pages from memory if challenged to it. Elements of the book reminded her of her and Robert in their courtship and very early on in their marriage. It hurt to think about it sometimes, but being able to connect with Austen's work certainly increased her love for Jane Austen and her works. If she really thought about it though, her love with Austen dated back to when she was a child, growing up in Cincinnati. Suddenly, she felt her husband's hand touch her thigh gently. She startled, but not in an unpleasant way, and she looked at him. "Yes dear?" she asked.

"You were just sitting there and staring at the wall. Do you want tea or something? If so, you can ring," he said.

"I know," she replied. "But no, I'm fine. Honestly, I was just thinking."

"Oh, what about?" he asked, capping his pen and placing it on the desk, turning towards her.

"Us in the beginning. Growing up in Cincinnati. Jane Austen," she said. "Just things really."

"Do you want to talk about any of it? Like how they all connect or something?" he asked, making Cora smile. He was genuinely interested in whatever she was thinking. Even if it was something silly like what she was going to wear for dinner that night. He always listened and based on whatever he heard, he'd offer his input which was always accepted happily by Cora, and she'd end up going along with his suggestion anyway. Cora would do the same with him though, even though she knew that sometimes he didn't want to burden her with things and he'd simply say 'it's nothing to bother you with' and if it ended up being something he should tell her, he would. Their marriage had nothing hidden, eventually everything was in the open. When she had told him about Mary and Pamuk, he told her about his folly in kissing the maid. She didn't like to think about it, but he swore it had gone no further than kissing and that he hadn't enjoyed it like he enjoyed her kisses, and that was the end of it. She forgave him almost right away, and not just because he had started crying, but because she knew that it had been a difficult time for him. Everything in his brain had been muddled. She smiled and nodded at Robert.

"The first book I ever read almost all by myself in Cincinnati was _Pride and Prejudice _and my daddy was so happy that he went out and bought me my own copy. A 1875 edition, one of the new ones and I've had that copy ever since. I brought it with me when I came to England, but I knew it wasn't my destiny to be finding a single man in possession of a good fortune, it was my destiny to be the one in possession of a good fortune. I was in want of a good husband and I certainly found one. Now, if I'm completely honest, I'd say that I was more of the Mr Darcy in our love story and you were Elizabeth," she said, smiling at her husband and reaching out to touch his knee. Robert smiled and placed his hand on top of her's gently.

"I didn't speak horribly of you to others," he said, looking at her with a half amused expression on his face.

"Calling me a 'silly American girl who thinks that she can buy a man with a god title and suddenly be an aristocrat' or 'the dark-haired one that laughs and smiles all the time'," she retorted, a hint of jest in her voice.

"I said 'the beautiful dark-haired one with the stunning blue eyes that laughs a beautiful laugh and smiles the most charming smile all the time'," he teased, even though Cora was really the one who was right. She leaned over and pushed him lightly.

"You say that now," she pouted. "Not before we were courting."

"Well I had to keep other men at bay," he said, standing up and leading her to the settee by the fire. When they sat down, Robert drew Cora into his arms and held her to him gently. "I knew you fancied me, but they were still a threat to me, because I knew that it was really up to your father, who you married."

"And you already know that I begged daddy to marry you, even though he and mother both said that you were only courting me and you only proposed because of my dowry," she said. "But I told them that you'd make me happy and that anyone else simply wouldn't do. And I was right."

Robert smiled and leaned in to kiss her lips softly. The two of them embraced on the settee, kissing one another until the door opened, revealing Carson and a telegram. Robert took the telegram and opened it, smiling after reading it. "Rosamund has asked for Mary, Tom, Rose and Edith to stay and have dinner with her and spend the night so she's not alone," he said, remembering what day it was. "Because of what today is."

Cora thought before she remembered that Marmaduke had died of a heart attack several years before on this very day. She appreciated that this year Rosamund asked family to stay, rather than drink so much that she would forget what happened on that horrid day, and be able to sleep. Cora took the telegram from his hand, setting it on the table as Carson left. Robert pulled Cora tightly into his embrace, not letting go; Cora doing the same with him. They silently pitied Rosamund, but knew that she was strong and could carry on and live life after losing the love of her life. Robert and Cora, on the other hand, knew that the loss of one would kill the other. Robert pressed another kiss to Cora's lips, holding her there for what he wanted to be, a kiss that would never end.


End file.
